1. INTRODUCTION 14

2. WHAT IS A CLIMATE AND ENERGY UNION AND WHAT SHOULD IT ACHIEVE ? 16
   The Green Deal and an effective Climate and Energy Union 18

3. CURRENT EU COMPETENCES ON ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY 22
 3.1. The system and scope of EU competences 22
 3.2. The nature and use of EU competences 24
 3.3. Current EU competences relevant to the Climate and Energy Union 26
    3.3.1. General EU competences relevant for the Climate and Energy Union 26
    3.3.2. Specific EU competences relevant for the Climate and Energy Union 29
 3.4. Potential legal limits and boosters to EU competences on energy and climate 39
    3.4.1. Treaty limits to legal bases: Article 192(2)(c) and Article 194(2) TFEU 39
    3.4.2. Energy as an issue of public security 46
    3.4.3. International obligations as limits or amplifiers of EU competences 58
 3.5. The emerging principle of energy solidarity and its role in demarcating Union and Member State competences with regards to a Climate and Energy Union 62
    3.5.1. Background 63
    3.5.2. The Judgments 65
    3.5.3. Implications of the Court’s findings for the realisation of an actual Climate and Energy Union 68
 3.6. The current use of competences for environmental and energy related acts 74

4. GAPS, LIMITS AND THE NEED AND FEASIBILITY OF TREATY CHANGE 79
 4.1. Expansive competences on climate and energy 79
 4.2. Potential limits to the legal space for a Climate and Energy Union 80
 4.3. Addressing the limits: (informal) Treaty change? 86
    4.3.1. Formal Treaty change 86
    4.3.2. Moving to qualified majority on the environment and energy 87
    4.3.3. Informal constitutional change: the case of COVID 88
    4.3.4. The limits of EU informal constitutional change at the national level 94

5. AN INDIVIDUAL RIGHT TO ACCESSIBLE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY? 96
 5.1. Theoretical overview: human rights protection in the European Union 97
    5.1.1. Sources of existing rights within EU law 97
    5.1.2. Enforcement of individual rights within EU law 97
    5.1.3. Creation of a new right within EU law 98
 5.2. An analysis of current law: does the right to (accessible) and sustainable energy already exist? 100
    5.2.1. The right to (accessible) energy 100
    5.2.2. The right to sustainable energy 105
 5.3. Conclusion: no individual right — but a decreasing space for inaction 117

REFERENCES 118